John McCain
John Sidney McCain III (29 August 1936-25 August 2018) was US Senator from Arizona (R) from 3 January 1987 to 25 August 2018, succeeding Barry Goldwater and preceding Jon Kyl. McCain was a well-known US Navy veteran, having been tortured after being captured during the Vietnam War, and he became an Arizona politician after returning home. In 2008, he ran for president as the Republican nominee, but he lost with 173 electoral votes to Democratic nominee Barack Obama's 365 votes. Biography John Sidney McCain III was born in Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone, United States on 29 August 1936, the son of Admiral John S. McCain Jr. and the grandson of Admiral John S. McCain Sr.. He graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1958, becoming a naval aviator in the US Navy. He almost died in the USS Forrestal fire of 1967, and he was shot down in October 1967 during a bombing run over Hanoi, North Vietnam during the Vietnam War. McCain experienced torture and refused early repatriation, remaining in North Vietnamese captivity until 1973. McCain retired from the Navy as a captain in 1981, and he entered politics in his new home state of Arizona. On 3 January 1983, he was elected as a member of the US House of Representatives from Arizona's 1st congressional district, succeeding John Jacob Rhodes. He served two terms before seeking the conservative hero Barry Goldwater's seat in the US Senate in 1987. McCain was succeeded by John Jacob Rhodes III in US Congress after winning the election, and he was easily re-elected five times. McCain became known as a maverick for disagreeing with his party on some issues, as he supported background checks for gun purchasers, promoted the granting of citizenship to the estimated 20,000,000 undocumented immigrants in the USA, supported embryonic stem cell research, and supported taxes on cigarettes, although he supported controversial policies such as ending affirmative action and opposing the creation of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. In 2002, he supported campaign finance reform (McCain-Feingold Act), and he also supported reestablishing diplomatic relations with Vietnam and fighting the Iraq War to a successful conclusion. In 2008, McCain was the Republican nominee for the United States presidential election, 2008, and he chose Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. He lost by a 365-173 margin, and he subsequently adopted more orthodox conservative stances and opposed Barack Obama's policies, particularly his foreign policy. In 2015, he became Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and he became a vocal critic of 2016 presidential nominee Donald Trump, who called McCain a "coward" and a "loser" for being captured in Vietnam. He helped to save Obamacare by voting against its repeal, and he continued to oppose Trump's policies, even as he struggled with brain cancer. On 24 August 2018, he decided to stop receiving treatment for his cancer, and he died a day later, four days shy of his 82nd birthday. Category:1936 births Category:2018 deaths Category:American politicians Category:Americans Category:Politicians Category:Scots Irish-Americans Category:English-Americans Category:Protestants Category:Republican Party members Category:Arizona Republicans Category:American conservatives Category:Conservatives Category:Baptists